US customers of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has had access to Google’s NFC based Google Wallet service, which enables instant contactless payments. Google Wallet works with a simple PIN code that is stored on the phone, in order to enable the NFC payment features on the phone, which is connected to bank accounts, loyalty schemes, etc. Even though the PIN code is encrypted, a security firm called Zvelo, figured out a way to get hold of that PIN code, provided the Android phone has been rooted.

Seeing as NFC is still in its infancy on mobile phones, it was only a matter of time before its security vulnerabilities would have been figured out. The problem with the current Android Google Wallet implementation is that the PIN code is not stored on the NFC chip itself, but rather on the phone, which is secured by the Android operating system. Many users of Android devices go through the effort to root their devices, which enables the users to become “superusers” who can then alter the root permissions on the devices. As soon as that phone is rooted, the thief can simply install the Google Wallet Cracker app, and the PIN code will be revealed.

Check out the video below to see how easy it is:

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As an official sponsor of the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Gabon-Equatorial Guinea 2012, Samsung today announced the availability of the ‘Africa Cup of Nations’ App, on the Samsung South African Apps store.

Says Deon Liebenberg, MD of Samsung South Africa; “As Samsung has been a long-time supporter of African football, we felt it only natural for us to invest in such an application; the application will offer fans an opportunity to keep up to date with the latest information and results around the event, with ease and while on the move.”

The application features competitions, galleries, live scores, downloads and fixtures for the 2012 tournament and is available for all fans to download for free.

“We are committed to our customers and through this app we aim to offer the best possible enjoyment of the tournament. Fans can now follow the tournament passionately and not miss out as we understand that it is not always possible to catch all the live action. We, at Samsung, are again meeting the needs of our consumers – in this case sports fans – and are providing them with content that not only allows for great entertainment, but fuels the spirit of African soccer,” concludes Liebenberg.

Vodacom has slashed data prices with a new promotion for contract customers, including Top Up. The launch of a Broadband Standard MyGig 1 and MyGig 2 data contract promotion which runs from 07 February 2012 to 06 May 2012 is the latest in a series of data promotions from Vodacom. With this latest promotion, Vodacom has broken the R100 price point on big data bundles – customers will now pay only R99 for 1GB.

“Our previous data promotions proved to be so successful that we decided to do it again. This time we’re giving savings of up to 60% to our customers. It is just the value proposition our customers are looking for at the beginning of the year. And as with all our data products, these promotional contracts will use Vodacom’s high speed data network with the broadest coverage across South Africa,” says Chris Ross, Managing Executive for Commercial Development at Vodacom.

The Broadband Standard MyGig 1, 24 month contract has been reduced from R249 per month to R99 per month, giving customers a 60% saving and the MyGig 2, 24 month contract has been reduced from R349 per month to R149. After the initial 24 months contract period, the contract can be renewed or will continue on a month to month basis, at the then prevailing rate for the relevant bundle size. The promotional offer includes a free modem and normal out of bundle prices apply. There are no restrictions on the use of these data bundles – they can be used any time of the day.

“We recently offered our prepaid customers a 20GB promotion that offered them great value and now we are offering our contract and Top Up customers great value” adds Ross.

Customers can visit their nearest service provider to sign up for a promotional Broadband Standard MyGig 1 or MyGig 2, 24 month data contract or Top Up data contract.

Since Windows 95, Microsoft has been using the Start button, which eventually became a Start “orb” button in Windows 7. Leaked screenshots from the upcoming Windows 8 Customer Preview build shows that the familiar Orb button is missing this time round. Users will be expected to simply hover their mouse over any corner of the screen (almost like hot corners in Mac OS X), which will then bring up the new Metro-infused Start menu screen.

Touch screen users will also just hold their screen over a corner of the screen (or use a swipe action). Windows fans might be peeved at the lack of the Start Menu in Windows 8, but it should be pointed out that in future the Start Menu is now being replaced by the “Start Screen”, which uses Metro style apps that look very similiar to Windows Phone 7, and also share a lot of the code base. This will make future cross-platform development between Windows 8 and Windows Phone a lot easier.

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We non-US Apple fans have a bad of a hard deal – all of the best media and many of the top apps just do not show up in the SA iTunes store. So if you are really desperate to get Angry Birds, the only way to get hold of an iTunes voucher is to make Apple believe you live in the US. Luckily that is not too hard, and I will explain to you how to do that here.

Before you get started, you have to know that in order to buy content from the US iTunes store, you will need to buy iTunes vouchers. Your non-US credit card will not work with the US store, but luckily it is easy enough to buy vouchers through sites like WildTwig. But first you need a US iTunes store account:

How to Open Your US iTunes Account:

1) First off, you obviously need iTunes, and an internet connection.

2) Open iTunes, then go to iTunes Store on the left.

3) Make sure you are signed out of any iTunes account. Make sure the top right of the iTunes store states “Sign In”. If it is signed into another account, click on the account name, and click Sign Out.

4) Scroll to the bottom of the iTunes Store page, and click on the country icon. This can be any country’s flag.

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Facebook has slowly started rolling out the new Timeline profile view for all users, in fact I reckon most readers of this site have probably switched to the new view  already (if not, you will be forced to use it pretty soon). Today Facebook launched a pretty great new tool to hype up the new Timeline view, simply called Timeline Movie Maker. They built the app with Definition6, and it could not be easier to use:

Simply head over to http://www.timelinemoviemaker.com/, and if you are logged into Facebook, a simple green button is displayed to generate your own movie based on your Timeline. The App will request your permission to get some of your details and naturally the photos from your timeline. Using the events and locations in your life, a one minute movie is built that is actually pretty exciting to watch.

Right now it is not yet possible to export this video or share it to sites other than Facebook. This is a pretty great way for Facebook to force users to expand their Timeline events and photos. In fact, if you do not have enough details in your timeline, the Movie Maker will not work.

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Those of us who like racing games all wish we can have that arcade type setup – you know, the massive flat screen, a racing seat, and of course the steering wheel and pedals. But then reality sets in – we realize we cannot have the racing seat and mounted steering wheels and pedals, because what do you do with it once you are done playing? Sure, if you have a massive bachelor pad it might be worth it, but for the rest of us, we are pretty much forced to stick to out gamepads.

The Wheel:

It is with this very market that Microsoft has gone and built the Speed Wheel – an accelerometer based steering wheel which you simply hold up to steer. There is no base to put on a table, and there is no pedals either. Now obviously die hard racing game fans might not like that, but in use I found the Speed Wheel great. When holding the Speed Wheel I was quite amazed at how well put together it is. It has some decent heft to it, without making it feel heavy – you will be holding it in the air after all. It is also well balanced, with the heavier internal components put in the bottom of the steering wheel, which does give it some center-weight. In the middle you will find the standard XBox silver button, and the back and start buttons. On the left hand side there is a D-pad, and on the right the X,Y,A,B keys. Quite simple. But the triggers on the rear is greatly improved over the standard game pad, with a lot more travel. But more on that later. The rest of this strange looking steering wheel is just as weird – there are some rings on the top of the steering wheel that can light up based on how much throttle or braking you do. So the harder you rev your car, the brigher they become. (more…)

Twitter today announced that it would for the first time start censoring content based on a user’s location, at the request of governments. If a country has a law or is about to pass a law that restricts global interpretations of freedom of speech, Twitter can abide by specific country’s requests. While it has not yet been implemented, Twitter did give some examples of what it might refer to on their blog:

As we continue to grow internationally, we will enter countries that have different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression. Some differ so much from our ideas that we will not be able to exist there. Others are similar but, for historical or cultural reasons, restrict certain types of content, such as France or Germany, which ban pro-Nazi content.

Until now, the only way we could take account of those countries’ limits was to remove content globally. Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country — while keeping it available in the rest of the world. We have also built in a way to communicate transparently to users when content is withheld, and why.

Twitter has not used the system yet, but when it does, it will inform the user why their tweet might have been censored. Twitter is very clear about this policy only being about different location’s interpretation of freedom of expression, and not a way to inhibit the freedom of information flow.

But it makes one wonder – will it reach a point where a company can request that all tweets about a certain topic must be removed? Too many revolutions in 2011 occured which were somehow connected to Twitter and social networking. Twitter is saying they will be transparent about any censorship it does apply. Right now you can see which cease and desist notices Twitter have received so far at Chilling Effects.